Greg Walker is the only one of fifteen children to ever Graduate High School. An expert on Leadership & Success, he became a Millionaire at a young age, owning three Franchises. Known as “The Big Dreamer,” he will inspire you to achieve all your Dreams or Visions.
Show Notes:
Where is your favourite fun spot to go?
I love the movies
What was your experience as a child growing up?
My experience was not a great one, growing up with 15 children born to alcoholic and drug addicted parents. My mother actually stabbed me. I grew up with dysfunction. I have 14 siblings and I was the only one who graduated high school. I graduated 454 out of 455. The only reason I graduated was that my teacher changed my grades a month before graduation. She saw something in me that I did not see in myself.
How did your environment affect you mentally?
People hear me speak all over the world now and can’t believe that I was very shy. I didn’t speak till I was eleven years old because of what I saw in my life. Five years ago, I decided I was going to speak. I joined Toastmasters through my friend and mentor Les Brown. In six months, I spoke at the World Championship Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. Now people are paying me up to $20,000 to peak. I speak with Les Brown.
I opened up hundreds of restaurants, I never had meeting with my employees because I was afraid to speak; I had to delegate. Now I speak to everyone.
What is the power of a story?
I did not know I why I was winning all these trophies in Toastmasters. I asked someone who believed in me why do people like me speaking and he said, “Greg, if you would just stand there, you would see that the other Toastmasters, they give speeches, you give a story and a message.” I had no idea what he meant. Les Brown taught me that speeches tell, stories sell.
How do you craft your story to impact the world?
The average speaker has between 2 and 5 speeches. You just craft it to where you want to go. My main story is “I am Possible”, the second one is called “No Excuses”, and the third one is called “I am not born to be average”. I craft it to whoever wants me to speak. It is an art form and once you learn how to do it, there are a lot of people who will pay you good money.
Les Brown taught me, there is enough to go around for a million people but you’ve got to have the story. Les always say, don’t let your speaking get in your way of the audience of what they need to hear. I don’t speak to impress, I speak to inspire.
How can we use stories to help sell products or services?
You’ve got to touch the heart. So many people sell their products instead of selling themselves. People buy into you, not your products. When you go buy a luxury car, they don’t tell you about the specifications, they tell you about the experience. When you tell your story, you have to get people to buy into you, not the product. I tell people that if you are good enough, the world will see you. If you are persistent, that will trump anything.
Do you have to go through what you’ve been through to have a story?
Everybody has a story. You don’t have to have a bad story, you can use other people’s story. I use other people’s story all the time. The idea is to think, how can I add value to that person’s life? What do they need to hear me say?
What does success means to you?
Waking up; When I wake up, I have the opportunity that somebody doesn’t have because they may be dying of Cancer. The Power of NOW…No Opportunity Wasted.
What piece of advice can you give for persons working towards success?
My roadmap for success is CPP – the choices I made got me in a different direction that my siblings did; the people I hung out with gave me a different direction; my persistence got me into a direction. Persistence trumps any college degree. I don’t have a college degree. You have find something that makes you jump out of bed in the mornings.
You’ve got to learn to use your pain. My pain made me a speaker; made me into a number 1 best seller. We all too big to dream small. Tell yourself that you are great; that you’re a millionaire, you just haven’t cashed the check yet. If you don’t take care of your daily responsibilities, you don’t have to worry about 3 months from today.
You don’t get the life you deserve, you get the life you work for. You get who you are and what you do. FEAR…You can either forget everything and run or face everything and rise.
Main Take-Aways:
- Persistence trumps college degrees.
- You don’t have to have a bad story, you can use other people’s story.
- People buy into you, not your products
